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I can't thank you enough Log. Ever since IS went downhill, I've grown a lttle disilllusioned about the world. This looks like a potential substitute.

People say 魔技科の剣士と召唤魔王 is similar to IS, but I digress. IMO, it's closer to Strike the Blood, Campione (without the detailed explanation of mythology), and Successor to the Sword Saint (closest).

Yes, there's the school setting and the whole single male thing, but the actual read is nowhere similar to IS.

Spoiler for some characteristics:

For starters, the story will be headed towards the harem route. Without any question. The whole premise of the story revolves around Solomon and the 72 devils.

People who have read High School DxD will be familiar because this is the same 72 devil as Bael, Phenex, Asmodeus, etc. These 72 devils form contracts with various females that grants them lots of magical firepower.

People who have read Campione will be somewhat familar because like Campione, it seems gods are the antagonist. Whether future volumes will include mythology is unknown.

People who have read Strike the Blood will feel the similarity because of the way the MC will power up. And I'll leave it at that.

Settings is most similar to Successor to the Sword Saint in how the peers treat the MC, the power level of the MC, and school setting. Oh yeah, swords are involved.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's too unique, but the execution is decent. If IS and Campione suits your tastes, you can go ahead and try it.

And for the record, tsuns are utterly useless in front of the MC because he knows (through a plot mechanism) exactly how well each girl feels about him.

I present you 魔技科の剣士と召唤魔王 (not nearly confident enough to translate it into English). It's pretty standard as a harem genre LN but lacks the annoying traits that a lot of harem LN's have. It's also translated into Chinese.

It's pretty new (only has one volume thus far) and given the recent uprising trend for harem LN I have a feeling that this one's going to be fairly popular. I would bet that it has a decent chance of being turned into a anime.

Spoiler for review:

To make a brief summary of the setting basically 15 years ago the world discovered magic as well as mythical beings (basically beings from various legends) in another dimension. Humankind learned to summon these dangerous mythical beings and use their power to great effect. 7 country's formed contracts with these "gods" and gained their alligence as a result. Gods will chose their summoners on their 14th birthday and give them a stigma. Schools have been set up to train summoners and magical swordsman (basically bodyguards that give the summoners time to cast their spell) as a result.

15 years latter after the finding of magic Kazuki Hayashizaki is chosen as a summoner and given a stigma to indicate that. This is surprising since males aren't chosen as summoners due to their low amount of mana compared to females. As the first male to be a summoner Kazuki is under a lot of scrutiny by almost everyone.

To complicate matters his sister (who's a magical swordsman) is against him going into summoner school to train there as a summoner. Because summoners and magical swordsman have a cat mouse thing going on where summoners look down on magical swordsman as inferior so his sister naturally is against him going there. She'll stop him even if it means going to war (bro complex is strong in this one).

Kazuki however is determined to thrive in summoner school and have already determined to give it his all. Even if he's the lowest ranked student (ranked E) and his fellow students intend to demean him he'll prove himself as the strongest summoner.

Does this sound like IS? It should.

However it lacks the annoying violence that Ichika recieves on a routine basis. Well there's some verbal insult going on here and there it's mostly free of female on male double standard violence which I know grates a lot of peoples nerves when it comes to harem LNs.

It's male lead is also decently OP which I know a lot of people enjoy. He's a magic swordsman training as a summoner. His summoning allows him to take and use other girls summoning spells as his own provided said girl has a high enough affection for him which as you can imagine has the potential to turn very, very OP. His own abilities as a magic swordsman is very high.

As for the characters personality, it's pretty standard for a harem LN. There's the bro con deredere not blood related sister, the tsundere childhood friend (which the main character conviently forgot about), the kind sempai with a dark edge behind her kind mask, the nagota yuki clone, and the tomboy girl.

Well these characters are hopelessly cliched they also aren't annoying. Even the tsundere (which I know a lot of people hate) is fairly harmless with her insults and quickly warms up.

It's fights are also decently written with some creative power usuage and the plot develops nicely (for the 1st volume a least).

All in all not a very exceptional LN but worth checking out for harem fans or action fans.

At first, I thought it would not be on MF Bunko J because it just screams more of a Blade Dance clone instead of IS due to the magic fantasy setting.

And then, I Googled it and it is indeed MF Bunko J. Media Factory giving no fucks about originality as usual(which is why I find their titles mindlessly entertaining and fun).

At a certain point, a lot of mangas, novels, and movies all feel repetitive. There are unique works, but those are a hit or miss. The misses miss hard and the hits are the rare masterpieces. On the other hand, while the typical work will probably remind in some way shape or form of another work, it's the "safer" route. If the producer or writer busts, their resume won't take as big as a slam.

This is why when I see a similar work, I don't really see if they're cliched or repetitive because they will be. Rather, I see how the author writes and whether it's an enjoyable read. In other words, if the execution is good, I'm willing to give it the thumbs up.

And btw, this doesn't apply to just entertainment mediums, it also applies to businesses. You can have a great and unique idea, but if it busts, all the responsibility will clearly be on you. If it succeeds, you will horde all the glory and be hailed as a genius or an innovator. If you take the safer route (i.e. the protocol or norm), you can fail and get another chance since you followed the rules.

I've been reading Dainihon Samurai Girl by Shidou Ryuusei lately. It tells the peculiar tale of a guy who quits his job and cuts ties with his very rich family in order to start up an idol production company, after convincing a supremely gorgeous 16-year-old ultra-right wing extremist that becoming a popular idol and capturing the hearts of the nation's populace is the fastest way to rising to a position where she can gain political power and become dictator of Japan, so she can restore the country's former glory by dumping America and showing China who's truly boss in Asia.

While I admit it may be a case of me being totally ignorant of things in Japan, I've been finding it incredibly fascinating and very entertaining. Kind of in love with it. I've only read 2 volumes so far, but it's a bit worrying that the series started a year ago, and vol 6 is already coming out in a couple of weeks. Hope the author can keep it up.

A couple of weeks ago I also went through Kohitsuji wa Mayowanai v1 by Gangdo. Surprisingly good, after seeing the questionable cover. Only halfway through the book did I notice that this title won the Sneaker Grand Prize, an award that was hyped to space after Haruhi won it, but then went awkwardly silent when Sugar Dark couldn't reproduce the success.

Anyway, Kohitsuji is a talky "school mystery" where unlikely people get together and try to solve student problems, big and small. Unlike most other light novels, this is remarkably plain, but it nevertheless manages to show some charm without resorting to aliens or ghosts. Might even check out the sequels.

I present you 魔技科の剣士と召唤魔王 (not nearly confident enough to translate it into English). It's pretty standard as a harem genre LN but lacks the annoying traits that a lot of harem LN's have. It's also translated into Chinese.

It's pretty new (only has one volume thus far) and given the recent uprising trend for harem LN I have a feeling that this one's going to be fairly popular. I would bet that it has a decent chance of being turned into a anime.

Spoiler for review:

To make a brief summary of the setting basically 15 years ago the world discovered magic as well as mythical beings (basically beings from various legends) in another dimension. Humankind learned to summon these dangerous mythical beings and use their power to great effect. 7 country's formed contracts with these "gods" and gained their alligence as a result. Gods will chose their summoners on their 14th birthday and give them a stigma. Schools have been set up to train summoners and magical swordsman (basically bodyguards that give the summoners time to cast their spell) as a result.

15 years latter after the finding of magic Kazuki Hayashizaki is chosen as a summoner and given a stigma to indicate that. This is surprising since males aren't chosen as summoners due to their low amount of mana compared to females. As the first male to be a summoner Kazuki is under a lot of scrutiny by almost everyone.

To complicate matters his sister (who's a magical swordsman) is against him going into summoner school to train there as a summoner. Because summoners and magical swordsman have a cat mouse thing going on where summoners look down on magical swordsman as inferior so his sister naturally is against him going there. She'll stop him even if it means going to war (bro complex is strong in this one).

Kazuki however is determined to thrive in summoner school and have already determined to give it his all. Even if he's the lowest ranked student (ranked E) and his fellow students intend to demean him he'll prove himself as the strongest summoner.

Does this sound like IS? It should.

However it lacks the annoying violence that Ichika recieves on a routine basis. Well there's some verbal insult going on here and there it's mostly free of female on male double standard violence which I know grates a lot of peoples nerves when it comes to harem LNs.

It's male lead is also decently OP which I know a lot of people enjoy. He's a magic swordsman training as a summoner. His summoning allows him to take and use other girls summoning spells as his own provided said girl has a high enough affection for him which as you can imagine has the potential to turn very, very OP. His own abilities as a magic swordsman is very high.

As for the characters personality, it's pretty standard for a harem LN. There's the bro con deredere not blood related sister, the tsundere childhood friend (which the main character conviently forgot about), the kind sempai with a dark edge behind her kind mask, the nagota yuki clone, and the tomboy girl.

Well these characters are hopelessly cliched they also aren't annoying. Even the tsundere (which I know a lot of people hate) is fairly harmless with her insults and quickly warms up.

It's fights are also decently written with some creative power usuage and the plot develops nicely (for the 1st volume a least).

All in all not a very exceptional LN but worth checking out for harem fans or action fans.

Oh, I remember that one. Came out quite recently and the second volume will be coming out soon. The one who draws the illustration is a famous Chinese illustrator.

Hi,
I have discovered this light novel. The title is 学戦都市アスタリスク (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk). After reading the sysnopsis, I find it interessant. There is also a manga for that (but only 1 chapter is out). I will translate it into English, but I will begin the Project in 3 or 4 months.

Here is the summary (von kissmanga)

Spoiler for summary:

Last century, "Invertia" brought "Mana" along with destruction to earth. Those, who are able adapt Mana themselves, obtained superhuman abilities and became known as "Genestella". And among them, there exists an unique Group... "Strega"! With the power of Mana, one can bend even the physical laws of the world.

The Academy City on water, "Rikka". This city, otherwise known as 'Asterisk', was famous for being the world's largest stage for the integrated battle entertainment <Star Wars Festival>. The young boys and girls of the <Starpulse Generation> belonging to the six academies made their wishes with Shining Armaments in their hands, vying for supremacy -- Amagiri Ayato is one of them.

Ayato arrived at Rikka at the invitation of the Student Council President of the Seidoukan Academy, Claudia, and right after that he incurred the wrath of the <Petalblaze Witch> Julis, and ended up having to duel her.

"If you're obedient, I'll pardon you by grilling you to only about well-done?"

"..... That would be cooking me thoroughly to my core, right?"

Then, in the middle of their duel, an assassin had fired a bullet at Julis -- ?

I have recently finish with reading HO and now I have nothing to read.
While waiting for new vols for to be translated or be released, I have been conflicted on what I should read next.

which 1 should I read next?

1 - Hidan no Aria
2 - IS
3 - C3
4 - LN you would recommend to me.

If you're referring to the works on Baka Tsuki, have you read mahouka, high school Dxd, or campione? Those are decent works with a good amount of release . I personally enjoyed the 3 I just listed over hidan, is, and c3 (yes, I read all of them).

Yes, I have read those you mention earlier, I am more leaning toward Hidan no Aria then the other 2 options, I might start once I finish reading this thread.

*edit*
After reading through this thread, there are some titles I'm interested in.
Can some one translate these titles for me, so I can know what it called if the english translation for it come out.
1 - 聖剣使いの禁呪詠唱.
2 - あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史.
3 - 黒鋼の魔紋修復士.
4 - 冴えない彼女の育てかた.
5 - 氷風のクルッカ―雪の妖精と白い死神
6 - 火の国、風の国物語

Thank in advance.

__________________

Sorry, Image unavailable. Only awesome people can see it.

“Whatever your reasons may have been, you did what you did. Do not forget that the day will come when you must pay for it.”

Yes, I have read those you mention earlier, I am more leaning toward Hidan no Aria then the other 2 options, I might start once I finish reading this thread.

*edit*
After reading through this thread, there are some titles I'm interested in.
Can some one translate these titles for me, so I can know what it called if the english translation for it come out.
1 - 聖剣使いの禁呪詠唱.
2 - あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史.
3 - 黒鋼の魔紋修復士.
4 - 冴えない彼女の育てかた.
5 - 氷風のクルッカ―雪の妖精と白い死神
6 - 火の国、風の国物語

Thank in advance.

That's a decent list though #6 on this list- 火の国、風の国物語 - is essentially the Guilty Crown of lightnovels for me. Was super hyped and then horribly disappointed by the execution. You'll probably like #1- 聖剣使いの禁呪詠唱- if you like the previously listed.

As for the previous list of Hidan no Aria, IS, and C3, I misread the post. I thought you already read those. My bad. If that's your list, I'm assuming you also read Seirei Tsukai No Blade Dance and Sword Art Online. If so, I would read the the LN in the order you gave- Hidan no Aria, IS, and then C3.

The only reason Hidan no Aria is before IS, is that I heard alot of bad thing about the MC in IS and how the fans have succeed in forcing the author to rewrite a vol that were about to be publish.

In any case I will still read IS but just not now.

*edit*

I just finished reading vol 1 of Hidan no Aria, and it's exactly how the anime portrayed it to be. It seem to me that the anime only covered up to vols 3, so I have 2 more vols before I hit new material.
So far so good.. off I go to start reading vols 2.

__________________

Sorry, Image unavailable. Only awesome people can see it.

“Whatever your reasons may have been, you did what you did. Do not forget that the day will come when you must pay for it.”

Regarding 学戦都市アスタリスク (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk), I want to know if there is someone who is willing to help me with the terminology. I have already began to convert the scan into text document, so if there is someone, please tell me.

People say 魔技科の剣士と召唤魔王 is similar to IS, but I digress. IMO, it's closer to Strike the Blood, Campione (without the detailed explanation of mythology), and Successor to the Sword Saint (closest).

Yes, there's the school setting and the whole single male thing, but the actual read is nowhere similar to IS.

Spoiler for some characteristics:

For starters, the story will be headed towards the harem route. Without any question. The whole premise of the story revolves around Solomon and the 72 devils.

People who have read High School DxD will be familiar because this is the same 72 devil as Bael, Phenex, Asmodeus, etc. These 72 devils form contracts with various females that grants them lots of magical firepower.

People who have read Campione will be somewhat familar because like Campione, it seems gods are the antagonist. Whether future volumes will include mythology is unknown.

People who have read Strike the Blood will feel the similarity because of the way the MC will power up. And I'll leave it at that.

Settings is most similar to Successor to the Sword Saint in how the peers treat the MC, the power level of the MC, and school setting. Oh yeah, swords are involved.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's too unique, but the execution is decent. If IS and Campione suits your tastes, you can go ahead and try it.

And for the record, tsuns are utterly useless in front of the MC because he knows (through a plot mechanism) exactly how well each girl feels about him.

Spoiler for eh:

The overall story background is very similar to IS hence why people compare it to IS so much. I mean if you just read the synopsis the first thing that comes to mind is IS.

10 years/15 years ago some genius discovered magic/IS kicking of a fierce global competition to gain control of that power.

Basically the background is a carbon copy of IS.

But yeah the actual story once you get down to reading it is closer then the one's you mentioned.

Also by successor of the sword saint you mean Kenshin no Keishousha?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike211

I have recently finish with reading HO and now I have nothing to read.
While waiting for new vols for to be translated or be released, I have been conflicted on what I should read next.

which 1 should I read next?

1 - Hidan no Aria
2 - IS
3 - C3
4 - LN you would recommend to me.

No clue on C3 but HnA>IS (not by much though and HnA gets worse as it goes).

If you're looking for a harem genre LN Gekka no Utahime to Magi no Ou, is a lot better then both HnA and IS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike211

Yes, I have read those you mention earlier, I am more leaning toward Hidan no Aria then the other 2 options, I might start once I finish reading this thread.

*edit*
After reading through this thread, there are some titles I'm interested in.
Can some one translate these titles for me, so I can know what it called if the english translation for it come out.
1 - 聖剣使いの禁呪詠唱.
2 - あるいは現在進行形の黒歴史.
3 - 黒鋼の魔紋修復士.
4 - 冴えない彼女の育てかた.
5 - 氷風のクルッカ―雪の妖精と白い死神
6 - 火の国、風の国物語

Thank in advance.

3 is called Kuro no Hiera Glaphioos.

1 probably will either have a romanji title or be called chant of the swordsman (or something like that).

No clue on the rest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike211

Thank whsie for replying.

The only reason Hidan no Aria is before IS, is that I heard alot of bad thing about the MC in IS and how the fans have succeed in forcing the author to rewrite a vol that were about to be publish.

In any case I will still read IS but just not now.

*edit*

I just finished reading vol 1 of Hidan no Aria, and it's exactly how the anime portrayed it to be. It seem to me that the anime only covered up to vols 3, so I have 2 more vols before I hit new material.
So far so good.. off I go to start reading vols 2.

Kinji honestly isn't that much better then Ichika especially in some of the latter volumes.

In particular he's arguably even more dense then Ichika and he says some incredibly stupid things due to said denseness that would want the reader to hit his own computer screen.

The overall story background is very similar to IS hence why people compare it to IS so much. I mean if you just read the synopsis the first thing that comes to mind is IS.

10 years/15 years ago some genius discovered magic/IS kicking of a fierce global competition to gain control of that power.

Basically the background is a carbon copy of IS.

But yeah the actual story once you get down to reading it is closer then the one's you mentioned.

Also by successor of the sword saint you mean Kenshin no Keishousha?

Yes.

As for IS's similarity with 魔技科の剣士と召唤魔王, I just don't see it. Yes there is magic/tech, world domination, school setting, harem but that's about it. Not to mention the latter has a sword and magic faction. When you add in the 72 Devils, things start to really stray off from IS.

As for IS, I personally believe 学戦都市アスタリスク (Gakusen Toshi Asterisk) is a almost a mirror copy of IS. Much more than the aforementioned series.